SA Forums Skyrim Modding Thread (Page 3)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/o5yxNFO.png[/img]

The first section was a list of recommended mods to get you started. This next section is about modding as a practice and community, other resources, technical info, tips and tricks. You may scoff at the idea of caring about this. You're probably thinking, "I'll just download the unofficial patches and some new armors or some shit, I don't need this nerd info." See you in 10 hours, friend. When you get back, consider getting involved the awesome GOON PROJECTS I'll talk about near the end!

[img]http://i.imgur.com/FiQRTcP.png[/img]

These are a few names that might pop up from time to time, and so you might want to know:

[b]Arthmoor:[/b] The lead modder on the Unofficial Patches, and the creator of several other fairly good mods. That being said, he's also a complete toolbox and the physical embodiment of :reject:. Avoid interaction with him if you can, but don't avoid using his mods because of it; mods are not some sort of asshole prayer wheel, he doesn't get more powerful the more people who use them.

[b]EnaiSiaion:[/b] The author of Apocalypse Spells and numerous other magic-related mods. Highly imaginative and skilled, but a bit of a drama queen and a total perfectionist.

[b]TrainWiz:[/b] A modder who is crazy, awesome, and crazy awesome. His mods tend to explore be Dwemer and Morrowind centric, and to explore the more :catdrugs: areas of the lore. They include a mod where you fight giant monsters by piloting a giant steam centurion in a quest called Pacific Skyrim (Brhuce Hammar: Legacy), a mod that adds an explorable railroad system that connects all the Dwemer Ruins (Blackreach Railroad), and a mod that adds a Dwemer spaceship you can use as a player home (Aethernautics.) If none of that sounds exciting to you, :getout:. That being said, his reach sometimes escapes his grasp, and his mods are known for having some rough edges. Due to modder drama, he's been banned from the Nexus but has let other people upload his stuff for him. So, you won't necessarily be able to find all his mods on his profile.

[b]kryptopyr:[/b] Author of quite a few great mods, like CACO and CCOr.

[b]Boris Vorontsov:[/b] Author of the ENB series graphical enhancer. I'll just quote goon Coughing Hobo, who summed Boris up best when he said:
[quote="Coughing Hobo" post="458932818"]
He exemplifies Russia's institutionalized racism and bigotry every time he talks about something other than ENB, and oftentimes when also talking about ENB.
[/quote]

[b]Chesko:[/b] Maker of Frostfall and other "survival" type mods. Generally a chill dude with a polished approach. Has a site with extensive info on his mods, [url=http://skyrimsurvival.com/]Skyrim Survival[/url].

[b]matorsmash:[/b] Doesn't make mods so much as modding utilities: the plugin merging script/app, "Mator Smash" for smashed patches, some TES5Edit scripts. Good stuff.

[b]Apollodown:[/b] Maker of the very popular Dragon Combat Overhaul and Civil War Overhaul mods. Has a [i]unique[/i] writing style.

[b]EggOver1979:[/b] Seriously? Total [i]asshole[/i].

[b]LittleRaskols:[/b] Another shithead. If you see this name attached to a mod, just turn around and walk away.

[b]Known Goon Modders:[/b] Agents are GO!, Hothtrooper, Nerd of Prey, LtSmash, Mazz, Terzaerian, Seorin (ret.). Let me know if you want on (or off) this list.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/Ijstrk2.png[/img]

The following programs range from helpful to necessary for modding. Remember: [b]IF YOU'RE USING MOD ORGANIZER, YOU MUST RUN [u]ALL[/u] YOUR MODDING TOOLS [I]THROUGH[/I] MOD ORGANIZER OR THEY WON'T SEE YOUR MODS.[/b] Exceptions are explicitly noted.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/25859/?]TES5Edit[/url]:[/b] A tool that allows you to examine and modify the records of a number of loaded plugins and also make patches from plugin records. If you know what you're doing, and use the right scripts, you can do a fair amount of sophisticated modding. If you don't, you could fuck things up horribly. Back up your plugins when it asks if you want to!

[b]The Creation Kit:[/b] The official mod design software. Available as a tool in Steam. Unless you're planning on making mods, you probably won't need this. Some compatibility issues (navmeshes) can only be resolved here, though.

[b][url=https://loot.github.io/]LOOT[/url]:[/b] The Load Order Optimization Tool. Successor to the similar BOSS, this attempts to reorder your plugins in a way that maximizes compatibility. It's not perfect, and the better you get at modding the more likely you will be to want to sort out load order yourself, but it's a start.

[b][url=http://www.modwat.ch/]Modwat.ch[/url]:[/b] A tool that constructs a load order summary for you and posts it on the web. Useful if, for some reason, you wanted to show a bunch of people your load order, perhaps to assist with troubleshooting.

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/69905/?]Merge Plugins[/url]:[/b] Stand-alone utility to manage the merger of plugins to reduce load order. Used to be a TES5Edit Script.

[b][url=https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/41zx4t/mator_smash_alpha_v02_now_equivalent_to_wrye_bash/]Mator Smash[/url]:[/b] Stand-alone utility to make Smashed Patches. Used to be a TES5Edit Script. Still in testing and somewhat difficult to use, but check it out! [url="https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3787350&pagenumber=183#post474701758"]Goon Gyshall wrote up a guide to making a Smashed Patch here.[/url]

[b][url=https://modpicker.com/]Mod Picker[/url]:[/b] A work-in-progress project to demystify the process of selecting the mods that suit your needs and resolve compatibility issues by drawing on the community's collective experience. Theoretically allows for user feedback and review of mods, but due to [s]pissbaby whining[/s] [s]modder drama[/s] [url=http://afkmods.iguanadons.net/index.php?/topic/4429-the-only-way-to-opt-out-from-mod-picker/]well-reasoned objections to the disreputable practice of end-users offering commentary on free stuff on the Internet[/url], this potential might be stillborn: [url=https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Mv255EhMdI3qzEvaVgXnCIpEfZdBa6TV8rfBI2GC-Yg/]mod authors can demand that their stuff never be mentioned on Mod Picker[/url], which will have a predictable chilling effect. (Note: Not really a "tool," not run through MO.)

[b][url=https://modchecker.github.io/]Mod Checker[/url]:[/b] Work-in-progress online tool/info directory by goon Roadie. This is a lookup-table for compatibility issues between mods. "Check" it out! :v: (Note: Not really a "tool," not run through MO.)

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/48265/?]FileAccess Interface for Skyrim Script (FISS)[/url]:[/b] Not quite a mod in the usual sense, this is a tool that allows mods to read and write settings to files. Mods with MCMs that use this allow you to save settings between save games which is just awesome. Not needed for mods that don't use it. (Note: Not really a "tool," used by mods that need it, not "run" through MO.)

[b][url=http://www.nexusmods.com/skyrim/mods/49743/?]JContainers[/url]:[/b] Like FISS, this is a tool that extends the capabilities of mods to allow them to save data, but also adds new data structures. You only need it if you use a mod that needs it (like Familiar Faces). (Note: Not really a "tool," used by mods that need it, not "run" through MO.)

[img]http://i.imgur.com/6vml6eq.png[/img]

[b][url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Main_Page]The Skyrim Total Enhancement Project (STEP)[/url][/b]

STEP is... a lot of things. The project starts from the assumption that Skyrim is essentially a console game that needs a good amount of modding support to bring it to a baseline of where a PC game "should" be. Whether you agree with this or not, the results of their efforts are worth looking into.

At its core is a [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/STEP:2.2.9.2]regularly updated and refined recommended mod list and guide[/url], which is worth checking out and following at least up until the graphics mods, after which it gets more subjective and limited by hardware. The list does not include any major gameplay alterations since its goal is to "bring Skyrim up" to a certain baseline of quality. It's a foundation to build on.

I'm a bit of a STEP fanboy. In the old thread, I can't count the number of times I've linked to one of their guides when someone had a technical issue. Do you want to know how to:
[list]
[*]Get your settings for ENB right? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENBlocal_INI]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[*]Set up the SKSE memory fix? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Skyrim_Script_Extender]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[*]Tweak your Skyrim INI files? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Skyrim_Configuration_Settings]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[*]Customize your Uncapper INI file? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Skyrim_-Community-_Uncapper]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[*]Easily get Workshop mods into MO? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:Mod_Organizer#Steam_Workshop_Mod_Installation]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[*]Optimize the textures in a mod? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:DDSopt]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[*]Learn how to clean plugins for bad records? [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:TES5Edit_Mod_Cleaning]STEP has you covered.[/url]
[/list]
Seriously, if you have a technical question about modding, check [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Category:Guides]their guides[/url] first because they probably have something about it.

[b][url=http://skyrimgems.com/]Gameplay Enhancement Mods for Skyrim (GEMS)[/url][/b]

The GEMS list is an index of tons and tons miscellaneous gameplay mods. I don't think they have all been vetted for quality in the same way as the mods on STEP's list, but there's a huge variety of possible mods to try. The best part about this is that it's well organized. If you're looking for a mod that does a certain kind of thing, GEMS probably has a category for it. You could do a lot worse than browsing it for mods to try.

[b][url=https://sites.google.com/site/grimyskyrim/mod-critiques]Grimy's Mod Critiques[/url][/b]

Sadly abandoned now, but worth going through for the entertainment value alone of his takedown of the overrated DUEL Combat Realism mod. His approach also takes a lot of the mystery out of modding.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/p3JpghJ.png[/img]

[b][url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMQkYC9HUcPTertReHILVOA]BroDual[/url][/b]

This duo of brothers (yes, that is why the name) consistently and regularly puts out overviews of new mods. They have a truly massive number of review videos for which they have [url=https://www.youtube.com/user/Brodual/playlists?shelf_id=6&view=50&sort=dd]helpfully categorized playlists[/url].

[b][url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1CSCMwaDubQ4rcYCpX40Eg]Gopher[/url][/b]

Gopher hasn't done a lot of Skyrim mod updates recently, but he has a similar (thought much shorter) [url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL96C073B0B8BFC01D]catalog of reviews[/url] to BroDual. More importantly, he has a number of very useful video guides: [url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7DlYarj-DdhDG41roBVJfNCqvO5MmKP]for beginners[/url], [url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLE7DlYarj-DcLS9LyjEqOJwFUQIIQewcK]on using MO[/url], and [url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8069C4B9B22A03CF]various tweaks and fixes[/url]. Some don't like him because he can be pretty long winded, but he generally knows what he's talking about or at least listens to people who do.

[b][url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxT_En7HmDzgmhzt6jCC-CQ]Novajam[/url][/b]

Updates somewhat infrequently, but his honest mod reviews are worth the wait.

[img]http://i.imgur.com/qK9xe9f.png[/img]

:siren: Here's where the audience participation begins! :siren:

So, the Mod Picker thing got me to thinking. If even the most well-thought-out and useful community projects outside the Nexus for sharing information about mods can be undermined by pissbaby primadonna mod authors, what can we do about it? Well, the obvious answer was to start our own mod info sharing site, with blackjack, hookers, etc., but most importantly, with the ability to be honest protected. I started one site and got control over an existing but abandoned one. Check them out and get involved!

[b][url=http://tesgoons.wikidot.com/]TES Goons Wiki[/url][/b]

This is an old site that's been just a bit neglected. I asked the original site runner for admin access and so now we can start sprucing it up. Since I went starry-eyed fanboy for STEP elsewhere in this post, I should clarify what sets this wiki apart. First, STEP doesn't really "editorialize" as much as I'd like to encourage for this resource (it doesn't really talk much about why it recommends the mods it does, or why it removes them outside of technical details or being superseded). Second, STEP's mods are about STEP's mission, meaning that anything that doesn't further its goal of "completing" a baseline Skyrim isn't on there (such as major gameplay overhauls).

If you want to get involved (please do!), there should be a big honking "Join" button on the page, but also make a post in the thread so I know who you are.

[b][url=https://modsofskyrim.wordpress.com/]Immersive Lore-Friendly Mods of Skyrim: HD Ultimate Edition[/url][/b]

This is a modest little blog that I have big plans for. The aim is to be an honest review site. I'll start posting on it soon with more details now that I can [s]abuse my position as new OP writer to[/s] publicize it in the OP. The basic gist is that I want to enable more of what Grimy's critiques used to do and what novajam sometimes does (but in blog form). If you've got burning feels about mods (especially overrated or hugbox-insulated mods) and want to put them into words without censure, [url=https://modsofskyrim.wordpress.com/contact/]send a join request through the contact form[/url] and post in the thread so I know it's really for real coming from an actual SA poster. If I don't know who you are, I'll at least give access to write posts. I restrict access to publishing them to people who are regulars here, though, strictly to prevent randos from making a post consisting of nothing but goatse 500 times, or just generally off topic stuff. Otherwise I don't want to and never intend to exert any other kind of "editorial control."

[img]http://i.imgur.com/D3u4nCs.png[/img]

There are some hard limits on what modding can accomplish, enforced by technical limitations of the game engine itself. There are also end-runs around these limits. This section is going to be [i]just a bit[/i] on the crunchy side, but it's good to know to understand why certain things are needed or recommended.

[b]Maximum Number of Plugins[/b]

Skyrim can only load 255 plugins, the ESP and ESM files that most basic mods use to store their info. Why? Well, to understand this, we need to understand a little about how Skyrim identifies records in plugins. A record is basically a data object that describes a thing in the game. Each record has an ID number formatted like this: YYZZZZZZ

The first two, "YY," are set by the load order of the plugin, and the last six, "ZZZZZZ," are the number of the record within the plugin. For example, skyrim.esm will always be at load order 00, and update.esm at 01, as these are the basic requirements for Skyrim as a game. This means that a record in the former with the ID 00000111 will not conflict with one in the latter with an ID of 01000111, even though they have the same plugin-internal ID number (000111).

These numbers are in hexadecimal, which means that each number is in base-16 as opposed to base-10 (i.e., decimal), which people most commonly use for math. In base-10, the maximum value of one "digit" starting at 0 is 9, so a base-10/decimal number goes from 0-9, meaning that a decimal "digit" has a maximum of 10 values. A base-16/hexadecimal number goes from 0-15 (with letters A-F representing the numbers from 10-15) so a hexadecimal digit can have 16 values.

So what does all this dumb math for geeks have to do with your cool kid video game modding hobby? Well, if the first two numbers establish the plugin's load order, it means that the maximum number of plugins you can have in your load order is FF, or 16^2, or 256, although the engine uses FF for dynamically generated objects. Thus, there are only 255 slots in your load order, meaning you can only load 255 plugin files, and of those, about 6 are going to be taken up by the Bethesda ESMs for the main game and DLC. For reference, this list has around 200 mods on it as of this writing. Not all of them have plugins and some are mutually exclusive, but others require a bunch of patches to work right with other mods, each of which is its own plugin.

How do we get around this? Well, remember the other part of the ID, the "ZZZZZZ" part? These are also hexadecimal numbers. They also set a maximum, the highest number of records a plugin can contain, which is FFFFFF, or 16^6, or [b]16,777,216[/b]. Most mods simply do not use anywhere near [i]sixteen goddamn million[/i] records. This is a lot of "wasted space." Hence, merging plugins so that all their records are shared in one plugin circumvents the limit by moving mod info from the limited load order slots to the much more plentiful record slots.

Another way to get around it is to use Mod Organizer. There are a number of mods that have plugins that only exist to load BSA content. MO can load the BSAs without the plugin, and allows you to disable them from your load order, freeing up precious space.

[b]RAM Usage[/b]

Skyrim, as an application running on your computer, can only use 3.1 GB of RAM. No matter how much RAM your system has, once Skyrim tries to use more than 3.1 GB, it either starts trying to offload it to the swap file on your hard drive (which is really damn slow), or crashes (which it might do if it runs out of swap space to use). This was likely the reason for a number of game crashes that were mysterious until this was figured out. Worse, for some reason, any data stored in VRAM has to be mirrored in RAM. So your hot as shit graphics card may have like 16 GB of VRAM (which, if you're reading this in 2020 or some shit, might seem pathetically small, also fuck off on your hoverboard asshole), but Skyrim can't use more than 3.1 GB of it. This is because it's a 32-bit program, and as such can only address 4 GB of memory, of which it must reserve about 0.9 GB for its most critical data. So running all your 8k immersive beard and high quality rock textures at once is like trying to cram Fort Knox into a jewelry box.

Getting around this is why ENBoost is important. One of the things it does is create a bunch of dummy processes to take excess data off of skyrim.exe's hands once it starts approaching the 3.1 GB limit. Shuffling data around like this might slow things down some, but not as badly as using swap and it beats crashing. [b]Note that if you're using Windows 10[/b], Microsoft has elected to kill ENBoost's ability to expand the memory available to Skyrim by hard OS-level locking DirectX 9 games to 4 GB. Sorry!

[b]Brawl Bugs[/b]

The Skyrim brawling "system" is intended to force you to engage in a bout of non-lethal fisticuffs. It enforces this by ending the brawl if you use weapons or magic with your opponent becoming so pissed off by your poor sportsmanship that they try to murder the fuck out of you. The problem is that the way the game implements this is very... aggressive. It basically checks to see if you cause any kind of magic effect on yourself or your opponent. Even if it doesn't do anything.

Why is this a problem? A bunch of mods work by [url=http://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Dynamically_Attaching_Scripts]using dummy magic effects on actors (including the player or NPCs)[/url]. These are non-harmful and mostly for keeping some other effect working properly, and often don't do anything unless a condition is met (because the game needs to regularly keep track of whether to use the effect), but will count as "cheating." There is probably more to this than just that, which is why so many attempts to fix brawls straight up don't work. Mod authors have to be aware of this issue and [url=http://www.creationkit.com/index.php?title=Dynamically_Attaching_Scripts#The_.27Brawl_Bug.27]careful to try to correct for it[/url], and even then it's a gamble.

It's better to just install the cheat patch and move on with your life. This does not oblige you to cheat, of course, it just makes the game not care if you do. You're on the honor system now! No bringing warhammers and death magic to a fist fight!

[b]Non-Conflicting Overrides[/b]

This is the kind of conflict that merged patches try to fix. They aren't real conflicts in the sense that they represent changes that could happily coexist in game, but the structure of plugin files is such that any change to any value in a single game record will be overwritten by any later change to that record. Say you have two mods that change, idk, Ulfric. One of them changes his hairstyle, the other changes his equipment. These changes don't really conflict with each other because Ulfric could easily rock a giant afro while toting around Cloud Strife's buster sword, but due to the structure of plugin files, only the last loaded mod will have its change in the game: either the new hair or the new sword, but not both. Creating a merged patch (above) would fix this by having its copy of Ulfric's record with both changes.

One of the most important real reasons to use a patch to fix these is because multiple mods may change the various lists Skyrim draws from to generate items, but only one version of each of these lists can exist in game. This and other such resolutions require some flavor of merged patch. A stock-standard [i]Merged Patch[/i] requires using TES5Edit and tries to resolve them, but is not that great at it. At best it's a base for further manual conflict resolution which is a fucking blast let me tell you. A [i]Bashed Patch[/i] [url=http://wiki.step-project.com/Bashed_Patch]requires using Wrye Bash[/url] and was, in Oblivion and Fallout 3, a very capable tool for resolving these issues, but never developed that well for Skyrim. It's mostly good for merging changes to leveled lists, but a merged patch also does this.  A [i]Smashed Patch[/i] is a new kind of patch made by matorsmash that tries to supersede both. So far the tool is pretty impressively powerful, but tricky to use (although [url=https://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/4e7ejv/guide_mator_smash_basics/]instructions and a basic guide exist[/url]). If you're not going to make a Bashed or Smashed Patch, you can use TES5Edit to make your own Merged Patch. Here is Agent's 7-step guide, reproduced with PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHOR and FULL RESPECT TO HIS ARTISTIC VISION:

[quote]
[list]
[*]Download and install TES5Edit. Generally you stick it right in the Skyrim folder.
[*]Run TES5Edit. If you are using Mod Organizer, you'll need to run TES5Edit through MO's executables button.
[*]When it shows you a list of all your files with checkboxes next to them, just click the OK button.
[*]Wait until the status bar at the bottom says "Background Loader Finished." This can take several minutes. Go eat a sandwich or something. Get me one too.
[*]Right click on ANY file on the left-hand list, select "other" on the popup menu, and then select "Create Merged Patch."
[*]Click OK on the unnecessarily melodramatic warning(s), then enter a filename without an extension. I always use "Merged Patch", but don't use "Merged Patch.esp"!
[*]Wait a few seconds for TES5Edit to work it's magic, and then just close the program, clicking "OK" when it prompts you to save your shiny new Merged Patch.
[/list]
[/quote]

If you [i]do[/i] want to make a Smashed patch, here's a cool guide:

[quote="Gyshall" post="474701758"]
1) Fire up Mator Smash, select your TES5 profile
2) Select all your mods, wait for the program to load
3) Click the fourth button on the toolbar at the top (Manage Smash Settings)
4) Scroll down to "Ungrouped", right click Skip and select "New Setting"
5) Name the setting on the right hand panel
6) Under the panel "Tree", right click "Records".  Click "Build", and then "Build from Plugins"
7) Right Click => Select all your plugins EXCEPT Skyrim.esm
8) Right click on Records again => Autoset Attributes, click yes to the Nodes warning
9) Right click Records one last time, and select "Prune", then "Autoprune Records"
10) Click save, and then use this new setting in your Smashed Patch.

Basically, what this does, is scan plugins for tags, as well as record conflicts (so load order is important here) and automatically create a patch based on those conditions.  Fire the finished patch up in TES5Edit, and clean it.  Then do the same thing, but this time use a conflict resolution filter, and take a look at some of the changed records.

In my experience thus far, this method has been pretty good and has resulted in minimal tweaking post-patch.
[/quote]

[b]Skyrim Special Edition[/b]

If you haven't heard, [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJrpzk0_z1U]Bethesda will be releasing a "Special Edition" remake (of sorts) of Skyrim[/url], which is basically a port of the game into the Fallout 4 version of the Gamebryo engine (i.e., the basic game engine from which Bethesda adapted their own engines for their games). PC gamers who own all the DLC will supposedly be able to get it for free. It will also be a 64-bit application, which will open up the RAM cap (above) and could enable a bunch of other technical enhancements. At the very least, it looks really goddamn pretty. It will also apparently have an integrated mod sharing and download system in Bethesda.net which, critically, will feature a 5-star rating system. :qq: Now the ignorant plebs and haters can tear down the Mod Authors' hard work and creative genius for lulz as is their wont, thanks Bethe$$$$da!! :qq:

So what does this mean for modding? Goon [b]Raygereio [/b]had this to say:

[quote="Raygereio" post="463489481"]
We don't really have any details yet. But it looks like it will essentially be Skyrim's assets, updated/remade and placed in FO4's iteration of the Creation Engine.

This means that most of your basic mesh & texture replacers can be ported over. However the question will be if for example a face texture replacer will still look good in the new lighting.

Any plugins however will have to be recreated in an updated version of the Creation Kit. Hopefully for your average mod user, things will be backwards compatible enough that you can simply open the plugin in the CK2.0, have it automatically update records and all you have to do is save the newly converted plugin. If we're unlucky a lot of mods will have to re-created, which means trouble for mods whose creators have moved on.

Also from what footage we've seen so far, it looks like they're taking advantage of the larger memory budget available to them and are placing some extra stuff in the gameworld (plants, rocks, etc). Which can cause issues for existing mods that add stuff to the gameworld. Think a mod's merchant stall clipping with a tree that wasn't there in the original version.

The biggest potential problem will be SKSE. F4SE is nowhere near to having the features SKSE has. The SKSE team have already said that - if possible - there will be an update. But expect it to take a while. Which in turn means it will also take a while for mods like SkyUI, or any other mods that depend on functionality added by SKSE, to get an update.

As for modding in general: It will continue. Though with the introduction of Bethesda.net as a mod distribution platform and console-mods, expect an increase in modders throwing hissy fits. We already have some [url=https://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/4708350-any-way-to-make-my-mods-incompatible-with-consoles/]wonderful early entries[/url]. Be sure to stock up on popcorn and enjoy the show.
[/quote]

[b]The Myth of the "Clean Save"[/b]

Skyrim modding requires a heavy up-front time investment due to the fact that it is not safe to remove mods in the middle of a playthrough. On the other hand, the opening sequence of the game is long and annoying. If you think about it, you can see the problem for trying to test out mods.

Once upon a time, in the dark days when there were no alternate start mods, many modding guides recommended making a "clean save" from which to start every modded game. The idea was to play through the Helgen intro and then save your game, find the file, name it in such a way as you know which one it is (e.g., "CleanSave.ess"), back it up just in case, and then load this every time you started a new game. From there you could use mods and console commands to tweak character appearance as needed. You could install mods and try them out in Your Clean Save without going through the intro, hooray!

What's wrong with this?
[list]
[*]It's unneeded in these modern times with alternate start mods. Seriously, either Skyrim Unbound of Alternate Start: Live Another Life makes the "clean save" obsolete. Puzzlingly, some modding guides would advise using an alternate start mod [i]and[/i] starting from a clean save...!?!?
[*]Some mods actually really do need to start with the game, or are otherwise likely to misbehave if installed mid-playthrough. Uninstalling mods is a more well known issue, but this is a problem too.
[*]Combined with the above, why go through the hassle of remaking your character with console commands and other things when you can just do it fresh each time from the start?
[/list]
So any mod guide that advises you to make a "clean save" and start every game from there is pretty out of date and flat out wrong on this point. Just use an alternate start mod!

[b]Advanced ENB Tweaking[/b]

No, wait. That's not [i]nearly[/i] gaudy enough...

[quote="Siets" post="463473350"]
[img]http://i.imgur.com/6IPAQ63.gif[/img]

Chances are (since you are already a true nord by choosing to add an ENB to your game) that you may wish to tweak it further in order to enhance performance, turn off that annoying depth of field effect, or just fix something that unexpectedly broke. Who's ready for some .ini editing!?

There are two ENB .ini's to be concerned with:
[list]
[*]enbseries.ini
[*]enblocal.ini
[/list]
The [b]enbseries.ini[/b] is what contains all of the numerical values that specify "how much" for each and every possible effect that the DirectX rendering engine can be told to render with that specific ENB version. You go here to tweak numbers to fix things such as "my nights are too dark" or "my clouds are glowing like they are radioactive" or "clouds are utterly darkening my landscape." Typically the ENB mod author will have an FAQ section that addresses common complaints like this and will tell you exactly which values to manipulate and by how much to achieve the desired adjustment in effect intensity. In case you [i]really[/i] want to get creative, you can reference the [url="http://wiki.step-project.com/Guide:ENB"]ENB S.T.E.P. Wiki[/url] which will detail what each and every effect does for many of the popular ENBs out there.

The [b]enblocal.ini[/b] file is a bit more boolean in nature and is the place where you toggle the larger features of an ENB mod "on" or "off." You will be in here editing if you are experiencing weird crashes, memory problems, or framerate stuttering. This is also often a place that a mod author of another graphical mod will reference to make sure their effects work correctly. Realistic Water Two has a "Subsurface Scattering Patch" that won't actually do anything unless you go into enblocal.ini and confirm that FixSubSurfaceScattering=true is set under the [FIX] section.

Of special mention is the [MEMORY] section of the enblocal.ini file. When people refer to "ENBoost", this is what that is. An ENB graphical mod, or just ENBoost by itself, allows Skyrim to expand beyond it's 32-bit 3.1GB memory limit by creating additional "spillover" memory allocation for the game engine to reference. 9 times out of 10, people that are having framerate stuttering issues (even without an ENB) need to pursue installing either an ENB or ENBoost so that they can have expanded memory. Just think about it, if you are installing multiple gigabytes of 2K and 4K texture packs, you are going to very quickly cross that 3.1GB memory threshold. When that happens and the game is trying super hard to somehow load 10GB of textures in a 3.1GB RAM allocation, it is going to dump the remaining 6.9GB to your hard drive. Then as you pan your camera around the game keeps trying to trade off textures between your 3.1GB of VRAM and what's in the hard drive swap. This is a relatively slow process, hence you get: awful, awful frame stuttering.

How do we fix modded Skyrim's very common frame-stuttering problem? Let's dive into the [MEMORY] section:
[code]
[MEMORY]
ExpandSystemMemoryX64=true
ReduceSystemMemoryUsage=true
DisableDriverMemoryManager=true
DisablePreloadToVRAM=false
EnableUnsafeMemoryHacks=true
ReservedMemorySizeMb=512
VideoMemorySizeMb=22528
EnableCompression=true
AutodetectVideoMemorySize=false
[/code]
Here's a snapshot of what my [MEMORY] section in enblocal.ini looks like right now. The magic happens when you turn on ExpandedSystemMemoryX64=true to get your game's VRAM beyond that 32-bit limit. For the most part, if you have a 4GB+ video card you can copy what I have above in terms of true/false answers. However, the numbers in [i]ReservedMemorySizeMb[/i] and [i]VideoMemorySizeMb[/i] are going to be unique to your system based on how many gigabytes of RAM your video card has and how much system RAM you have. I'll use my rig as a case study:

[i]ReservedMemorySizeMb=512[/i]
This is a number that you more "feel out" rather than "precisely calculate." The ENB S.T.E.P. Wiki recommends 1GB video card users to start with "128" Mb and then increase by +128 increments until the stuttering goes away. My GTX 1080 is an 8GB video card, so I felt pretty comfortable tossing in 512Mb as a reserved memory segment of that VRAM and this right away resolved my frame-stuttering issue.

[i]VideoMemorySizeMb=22528[/i]
This is a number that you can easily calculate. Take your system's RAM in GB, add it to your video card's VRAM in GB, subtract -2048 to leave a healthy bit of a buffer for basic OS and system processes outside of Skyrim, then finally multiply by 1024 to get the number in MB. I've got 16 GB of RAM and my GTX 1080 has 8GB of VRAM, so ((16GB + 8GB - 2GB) * 1024) = 22528. (NOTE: The ENB S.T.E.P. Wiki says you can subtract -170 instead of -2048, but I wanted to leave a larger buffer for myself.)

The [i]fun[/i] part? This was all fine and dandy under Windows 7... Before the dark times... [i]Before I upgraded to Windows 10.[/i]

The S.T.E.P. Wiki has this to say:

[quote="ENB S.T.E.P. Wiki"]Notice: Windows 8/10 users: Microsoft has, unintentionally, introduced a memory limit for DirectX 9 games/software. This limit is 4GBs (4096) and there is nothing which can be done to circumvent this limit. For users seeing the VRamSizeTest tool reporting 4064 or similar, this is not a mistake. This is actually the limit for the OS in use and the maximum value you can set the VideoMemorySizeMb to.[/quote]

:smithicide:

Yes. That means if you run Windows 10, your choice is to either downgrade all of your texture mods to 1K/2K and hope for the best, or once again endure awful frame-stuttering regardless of how you tweak your ENB .ini files. Supposedly if you Google this random forums people say to install the latest release of DX9 manually and that fixes it. I tried it. It didn't work. Thanks Micro$oft.

There is good news however! The Skyrim Remastered Edition due out this October 2016 runs Skyrim on the Fallout 4 version of Bethesda's engine which leverages DX11! This means that Windows 10 users won't have to worry about this stupid hard-coded DX9 limitation for much longer. For now though, thems the breaks.

[i][b]October 28th, 2016[/b] can't come soon enough![/i]

[timg]http://i.imgur.com/O4mIH9r.jpg[/timg]
[/quote]

[img]http://i.imgur.com/YxDz5TI.png[/img]

This OP is meant to be kind of a living document. As long as I'm participating in the thread, I'll keep it updated as things develop. Some of the categories are a bit threadbare because Agents and I don't know enough about what's available. Please do make suggestions!

Thanks in post-vance (the first post got pretty long...) to [b]Agents are Go[/b]. Like 60% of this is his work from before he became unable to continue. I offered to take over but I want to give credit where it's due. At points, statements of opinion from him will be noted as "Agents prefers..." etc. where it was originally "I prefer..." In other places, where I am in a position to concur with him, I've left it first-person.  Huge thanks as well to [b]Mega64[/b] for the banners.

[i]"To all the haters who said this day would never come, fucking. SUCK. IIIIIIITTTT."[/i] -GunnerJ, 2016, this post